Lumine immediately went to switch off the spotlights. No doubt, in Furina's eyes, those spotlights represented the gaze of all the people watching her.
Lumine also fell into thought. Just then, she picked up one of Furina's performance tickets. Lumine took that ticket and sat down in the audience.
Let me see your true heart, Furina.
Act One: Furina Before the Mirror.
Furina walked from the center of the stage toward an enormous mirror, roused by an unknown voice.
Furina: "Who's calling me? Who is it? Where are you?"
Focalors's image appeared on the mirror: "Don't be nervous. Don't be afraid. I'm right in front of you."
Seeing an identical copy of herself in the mirror, Furina panicked a little: "No—what's going on? Are you... me, in the mirror?"
Focalors: "Mm, I quite like that title. Then I shall be the you in the mirror."
Furina: "Me in the mirror... you... did you need something from me?"
[The Knave: So it seems this is the secret Furina could never speak aloud.]
[Furina: Yes, Knave. Isn't this exactly what you've always wanted to know?]
[Ningguang: The Hydro Archon separated her human part from her divine part, made her human self play the role of the god, and went off herself to do... what, exactly?]
[Nahida: I imagine it must have been something equally important. To oppose the Heavenly Principles would require time to prepare.]
[Arataki Itto: This broadcast room really is fascinating. You get to learn the secrets of the gods.]
[Keqing: Yes. Secrets that don't exist in recorded history.]
Focalors: "The prophecy. Have you heard of it?"
"What prophecy?" Furina was initially puzzled, but quickly understood: "Wait, I know. Although I don't understand why... it feels like it's just there, inside my mind."
"Everyone will dissolve into the sea, and in the end, only the Hydro Archon will remain, weeping upon her throne. And with that, the sin of the Fontainians shall be washed away."
Focalors cheerfully affirmed: "Yes, that's right. You know it well."
Furina covered her head with one hand: "What's going on? All my memories seem so hazy and unclear, except for this prophecy, which I remember with perfect clarity. Will the contents of that prophecy really come true?"
[Ningguang: It seems that when the divinity and the human vessel were separated, the memories of the divine nature were taken away as well—all except the content of the prophecy.]
[Keqing: In other words, Furina knew nothing of Focalors's plan.]
[Ningguang: That's clearly the case. Perhaps those memories are themselves a part of the divinity, and so they couldn't remain.]
[Focalors: Yes. The separation had to be utterly complete. That is why Furina is a pure human.]
Regarding the prophecy, Focalors confirmed definitively: "Yes. And that is also the reason I have come to find you. Fontaine's calamity will arrive sooner or later. Everything will unfold exactly as the prophecy dictates. There is no escaping it."
Furina urgently asked: "Then won't it be incredibly serious? Everyone... as Fontainians, will I also dissolve?"
Focalors laughed softly: "Hehehe. Don't worry. Extraordinary encounters exist in this world precisely to bring about a turning point for mortals, just as you have met me today."
"I will tell you the method by which everyone can be saved. It's just that... you may have to endure some suffering."
Furina breathed a sigh of relief: "So there's still a hope of being saved! You scared me to death, speaking in such absolutes earlier."
"As for suffering... well, my very first thought is indeed 'why must I be the one to endure this pain?'"
"But if the prophecy comes true, I'll die too, won't I? And besides, the extraordinary encounter has already come to find me."
"If there were a scale, with the lives of all Fontainians on one side, and my own suffering on the other, no one would have to think twice about which way it would tip."
[Focalors: Allow me to introduce—this is the perfect human of my ideals. Capable of fear, capable of terror, capable of selfishness, and also capable of selfless sacrifice. Her strengths are all strengths that humans possess, and her weaknesses are all weaknesses that humans possess. Well? Isn't she utterly perfect?]
[Zhongli: Yes. Saints and villains are both incomplete. Only such a person is truly whole.]
[Nahida: Yes. Flawlessly perfect.]
[Arataki Itto: What's all this? Why is everyone just sucking up? What's so perfect about Furina?]
[Kuki Shinobu: Boss, this is not the place to pick a fight. The other party is a god!]
[Arataki Itto immediately backtracked: Perfect, absolutely perfect! She's just missing a pair of horns on her head. Then she'd be even more perfect.]
[Yae Miko: Ah, I forgot to mention. Arataki Itto is not human, so his aesthetic sense is a bit... unusual. Lady Focalors, pay him no mind.]
[Focalors: I am a god. How could I possibly mind such a trivial thing? Clorinde, I hereby dispatch you to Inazuma immediately. Give him a good lesson for me.]
[Clorinde: Understood, Lady Furina.]
[Video Compilation System: I'll provide the teleportation. Clorinde, let me send you over right now. Ah! Oh dear...]
[Arataki Itto: Not the face!!!!!]
The person in the mirror laughed, clearly approving of Furina's words immensely. "You truly are the most perfect human. You are my ideal."
"This must be the justice that belongs to you."
Furina didn't understand, but Focalors offered no explanation. Instead, she directly laid out the mission: "Listen carefully. It's nothing complicated. Fontaine has just lost its Hydro Archon. I need you to play the role of the new Hydro Archon."
Furina: "Play the role of a god?"
Focalors in the mirror: "Yes. You must keep acting, on and on, without ever letting anyone suspect your identity."
"If you can do this, I will have a way to counter the prophecy. However, if your identity is ever exposed, that final hope will vanish."
[Ningguang: So that's how it was. Only by continuing the performance was there a way to oppose the prophecy. In order to protect her identity, Furina reached her hand into the Primordial Seawater.]
[Keqing: Even after her identity had been exposed, Furina still did not give up. As Furina herself said, she preserved hope until the very last moment. Even if sacrificing her own life could only buy a few more seconds, she deemed it worth it.]
[Focalors: That is a perfect human. She is capable of fear, capable of fleeing. But when she is resolute, not even death can stop her. Unshakable conviction can overcome all fear.]
[Charlotte: We... we owe her far, far too much.]
[Wriothesley: From today onward, Furina is my idol.]
[Sigewinne: Mine as well.]
[Neuvillette: Mm. And mine.]
[Focalors: Hahahahaha! Hydro Dragon, Hydro Dragon, you really are so adorable!]
Regarding playing the role of a god, Furina had no idea how to go about it. "But how can I possibly accomplish something like that? To play a god as a human, and to do it without ever being found out..."
Focalors in the mirror: "Don't worry. What you need to do is not to become the image of a god. You simply need to play the part of what the people imagine a god should be."